The Life of Brindlestar: Rebellion
Allegiances 'RiverClan' '''Leader'- Hazelstar: Light brown tabby tom with greenish gray eyes apprentice, Ravenpaw Deputy- Boothe: Long haired black and gray tom with battle scars and abnormally large claws Medicine Cat- Larksong: Brown tabby she-cat apprentice, Pinepaw Blood Warriors Luna: Black she-cat Pierre: Timid wiry brown tom Foxheart: reddish tom with white splotches Dustfoot: Golden tabby tom Bolt: Big white tom Pounce: small gray she-cat Flame: pale ginger tom Sabretooth: Massive golden tom with sharp teeth Crusade: Reddish tom Sierra: Reddish-Ginger she-cat Fuzz: Fuzzy tabby she-cat Monaco: Calico she-cat Bullfrog: Bright silver tabby tom Warriors Tigerfall- dark brown tabby and white tom with gleaming green eyes apprentice, Thornpaw Emberwing- Fluffy light gray she-cat, dark blue eyes Ashfall- Fluffy light tom, dark green eyes Heatherspring- Ginger she-cat apprentice, Cinderpaw Leafwhisker- dark brown tabby tom Gorsefall- light grayish-blue tom Furzeberry- Tortoiseshell and white she-cat Sandfoot- pale ginger she-cat apprentice, Aspenpaw Lilyflower- brown and white she-cat with one blue eye and one gray Oaktalon- Russet colored tom Rosefall- Tawny colored she-cat Whiteclaw- White tom Snaketail- Tortoiseshell she-cat Berryflower- Reddish-Cream she-cat Sorrelpelt- Golden Brown tabby she-cat Graypelt- Dark gray, almost black she-cat Darkspots- Black tom with white spots and tipped-tail Apprentices Pinepaw- pale brown tabby she-cat with gray eyes Ravenpaw- Tall black tom with white chest and paws Aspenpaw- dark brown tabby she-cat with blue eyes Queens Stormfeather- Black with amber eyes Poppyleaf- dark tortoiseshell she-cat with dark amber eyes Mother of Tigerfall's kits: Fallowkit (Black she-cat), Leopardkit (Dark brown tabby tom), Snowkit (white and tortoiseshell she-cat), Mintkit (white and dark gray tabby tom) (3 Moons) Violet- dark ginger she-cat with bright green eyes Mother of Hazelstar's kits: Kestrelkit (short haired, light brown and white tabby tom with light blue eyes), Morningkit (dark tortoiseshell she-kit with one grayish green eye and one amber one), and Mousekit (very small black tom) Elders Pebblefoot- Very old dark gray tom. Grandson of the legendary Mistystar Paleclaw- Very pale gray tom, with pale brown eyes Nettleheart- brown tabby she-cat, green eyes Birchpelt- short brown she-cat. Retired early due to unexplainable weakening of the muscles Fallen- Black tom Frost: Pure white she-cat 'ShadowClan' Leader- Ivystar: Small reddish-brown and white tom Deputy- Bonestripe: White tom with odd thin black strip on his spine, amber eyes. Great-Grandson of Dawnpelt Medicine Cat- Jaywing: young light gray tom Warriors Talonstrike- Gray she-cat Eaglefrost- Pale gray tom apprentice, Stonepaw Berrystripe- Cream colored she-cat Fishleap- ginger tabby tom with gray eyes Gingerpelt- Flame colored tabby she-cat Ferretstripe- Black and gray tabby tom apprentice, Stripepaw Larkshadow- Dark brown tabby tom Barktalon- Dark brown tabby tom Queens Breezecloud- Long haired light gray, with green eyes Reedstorm- Tabby Queen Flowerstorm- White she-cat Elders Dapplefur- small brown she-cat Yellowtail- Very pale ginger she-cat Mousefoot- Gray tom with brown eyes 'ThunderClan' Leader- Oakstar: Bright ginger tom with white paws and tail. Grandson of Lionblaze and Cinderheart apprentice, Reedpaw Deputy- Mosswhisker: Brownish gray and gold tabby tom with hazel brown eyes Medicine Cat- Minnowflight: Slender mottled gray she-cat with blue eyes Warriors Stormbreeze: dark gray tom Streamclaw- Gray tom apprentice, Firepaw Poppyshade- Black she-cat apprentice, Robinpaw Nightfrost- Black and white she-cat Silverheart- Blueish gray tabby tom apprentice, Starlingpaw Tigerfoot- Dapple brown tom with gray eyes Fernstreak- gray tabby she-cat with black paws Whitepelt- Large Black tom with white splotches and a white-striped tail Blackstorm- Black tom Grayfeather- Feathery Gray tom Dustfur- Light Brown tom Goosefeather- light gray tabby tom ' Queens' Willowflower- Sleek light silver she-cat Rowanheart- Light Ginger tabby Jaypelt- sleek black and gray queen Elders Sunblaze- bright ginger tom Frostheart- Pale gray she-cat Dovewing- Pale gray she-cat, very very old Mintfeather- Pale gray queen 'WindClan' Leader- Birdstar: Pale ginger tom Deputy- Lakestorm- Dark, watery black, tom with brilliant blue eyes Great-Grandson of Breezepelt and Sunstreak Medicine cat- Cherryspring- dark reddish-cream she-cat apprentice, Frozenpaw Warriors Sproutpetal- Ginger and white she-cat Orangefur- Oddly colored orange tom with no tabby stripes, green eyes Leopardpelt- Brown she-cat apprentice, Brownpaw Rainwing- Dark gray tom Cloudwing- white and gray she-cat apprentice, Dawnpaw Moleflight- Dark brown and gray tom Foxstep- White she-cat with reddish-brown paws Firetail- bright ginger she-cat Harepelt- Small, furry brown she-cat apprentice, Peachpaw Skyheart- Off whitish-blue tom Mothshade- golden brown tom Daisystem- Skinny tortoiseshell with green eyes Queens Hawkeyes- Sharp brown she-cat with white ears, chest, two front paws and tipped-tail. Over-protective of hers (and all) kits Firetail- bright ginger she-cat Elders Leopardstep- spotted golden tom Coldleap- Dark black, watery black, tom. Green eyes. Grandson of Breezepelt and Sunstreak The Outsiders Ryder- Young white and gray tabby tom with amber eyes and many scars. Unnofficial leader of The Outsiders Kellen- Light gray-and-white tabby tom with amber eyes, younger brother of Ryder. Wendy- Dark tortoiseshell she-cat with blue eyes Sage- Misty gray she-cat Emilie- intelligent white she-cat, with golden splotches and blue eyes Soto- Brave reddish-brown she-cat with blue eyes Sandy- Very young, apprentice-aged brown tom with green eyes Banner- Light brown tabby tom Lark- Dark gray, almost black, she-cat. Mother of Banner's kits: Mist (light gray she-cat with blue eyes) and Raven (dark brown and black tom) (4 moons) 'Other Cats' Cloudpaw- White tom with ice-blue eyes Brindlepaw- light brown tabby tom with one blue eye and one grayish-green eye Prologue :All was quiet while the white tom rummaged through the forest, scavenging for any herbs or plants that could help him. He could hardly see a thing; it was so dark. The stars in the night sky shone dim, floating ominously still. It was as if nature shared his precarious situation. He came up to a bush with bright red-on-green leaves. I hope this works, said the tom in his head as he took a couple of stems in his mouth. He quickly padded away to the others. :The short journey back to the others went by in a blur. The tom’s paws were cracked and bloodied, due to the frosty weather and the swiftness of his travels on the pebbles. But that didn’t matter; there was a dying cat in his group. He would do anything to save her from succumbing to her mysterious illness. It was strange, very strange. No one else in the camp got it, even though it seemed very contagious. The she-cat, Gale, seemingly just woke up one morning and felt like she was going to die. Her eyes were constantly red like blood, and suffered various swings: From extremely violent to depressing; From restless to weak; She even went from having the sharpest senses to basically blind and deaf. Whatever it was, it had the whole group worried. Many thought she wouldnt last much longer. :Finally, the tom arrived in the mini-camp, located between a couple of bushes and some trees. :"Kellen," said another white tom who looked like a bigger copy of himself, "Do you have the herbs?" :"I found these red leaves; it was all that was left," he said dejectedly. They’ve tried many herbs in the past 3 days, but nothing has worked. The unknown red leaves are their last resort. :"Well give them here, then," the bigger tom said. He took them and went into the den where Gale has been for the past week. But Kellen couldn’t bring himself to go with his older brother, just in case the leaves don’t work and Gale dies. :But when Kellen was just about to go to his sleeping nest, he heard some commotion coming from the den. It was followed by screams, a yowl, and then an eerie silence. Immediately he sprinted to the den, as other cats started to come out of their nests. When he made it into the den, the scene shocked him. :The den was bloody, Gale was lying in a pool of blood, looking like her last moments were filled with rage. Sage, a she-cat in their group, was panting, looking in horror at what had just happened. There was a bite mark in her neck that was bleeding heavily. And finally, his own brother, Ryder, was standing with a bloodied body; seemingly stunned into a freezing position and staring at what he had done. :"What happened?" Kellen said in surprise. Ryder didn’t even look at him. :"We were trying to give her the leaves,"he said with a shaky voice. He regained his composure with a shake of his fur, sprinkling blood on Kellen in the process, and look at his brother straight in the eye,"We put the leaves down her mouth, and immediately she just went crazy. . .she attacked Sage and bit her in the neck. She didnt even respond to my pleas, and when she turned around, her eyes were all bloody and she was coughing up blood; it looked like she hated me. . . I had no choice but to kill her." He bent his head down in regret. :Most of the group came in when Ryder gave his account of what happened. They were all shocked into silence, looking at the body of Gale, which would eerily twitch at some points. :"What is this disease?" Kellen worriedly asked himself. Chapter 1 :A bright light burst into Brindlepaws vision. He shrunk back, squinting his eyes against the blinding aura. :"Run! Now! Save yourself!" A booming voice echoed around him. Brindlepaw looked around, all was dark, yet there was a forest around him. He was very confused and nervous. :"Brindlepaw! Help me! Help!" He recognized the agonized pleas of his brother, Cloudpaw. The hair on Brindlepaws backed bristled up sharply; it absolutely killed him to hear his loved brother cry out in pain and sadness, even more so since he couldnt do anything to help his brother out of the pain. :Suddenly, a cat sprang from the light, claws unsheathed, mouth foaming, straight towards Brindlepaw. The cat knocked him to the floor and was standing over him, standing face to face, drips of foam dripping into his nose. Brindlepaw tried looking to the side, but glancing up he recognized the harsh gaze of his father. :"Finally I can kill you," Hazelstar whispered menacingly, looking up and laughing loudly and evilly while Brindlepaw turned his head towards the side in fear, bracing for the death bite. Hazelstar looked down again; the wait was too much to bear, Brindlepaw couldnt contain the fear in waiting to die. He let out a frail yowl as his father swung his head down to perform the death bite- :"No!" Brindlepaw sprung up from behind the bushes, hitting his head on some leaves and twigs. He looked around, no longer surrounded by the dark emptiness that was the court, but by the green and light New-Leaf environment, complete with already chirping birds, shining sun, and blooming flowers. :It had been one moon since he was forced to leave RiverClan, escaping the tyrannical fury of his father who was bent on killing his son, and every night he had been forced to bear the nightmares that came along with the trauma he faced watching his loved ones die. :He had traveled long, walking slowly past WindClan's territory and past the Moonpool, not paying attention what he was running into, limping on his left paw after an attack by a fox. He hardly fought back; he was still too much in shock for that. No, he managed to run away only after the pain from the fox-bite shocked him enough to realize what was happening. :After about nine or ten sunrises, he arrived in a little mini-forest nestled between a couple of twoleg houses and the mountains where the remains of the Tribe of Rushing Water lives. Ever since then he has been mostly idle, eating little and lying with his head bent towards the ground in solemness. Contemplating the events that occurred, for the past couple days he had been wondering if he did all he could do; even wondering if the whole thing was his fault. :Why me StarClan... I got Cloudpaw and my mother into this because of Hazelstar's fury against myself, they had nothing to do with it and if I had just stayed out of everything and not started the stupid murder plot to begin with then we'd all be okay... if they died I will never forgive myself... Chapter 2 : Leaving the clearing for the first time in days, Brindlepaw squinted as the sunlight hit his face. Everything felt so bright and cheerful; contrasting his emotions in his heart. :It's as if life went on as normal for everyone else...it's not fair! Everyone else gets to go on with their life, while here I am, banished from my own Clan which is in shambles...Foxdung! Brindlepaw swiped at the ground in frustration, only to have his claw get caught and cause it to bleed. :"Great! Perfect!" he yowled in angry irony. He noticed how raspy his voice was; it was the first time he talked in many sunrises, added to that the lack of water he's had over the days, Brindlepaw's voice was extremely dry and hurt when he yelled. :He made his way over to the nearest stream to get some water. On his way, he truly took in how alien his environment seemed to him. To Brindlepaw, who was used to having wet pads and being around water, being cooped up in a secluded mini-forest next to an open clearing was very unsettling, yet it was that exact feeling of discomfort that Brindlepaw cherished, for the solitude it provided gave him much thinking time. :He bent his head down to take a sip from the stream. Being below the mountains, it was generally ice-cold and crystal clear. But Brindlepaw was so thirsty he never took notice to the slightly murkier look it appeared as. Not only was the water ever so slightly more opaque, but it seemed like it was also radiating, as if something was make it appear extra bright. :As soon as he drank the water however, he noticed. He sprang back and spit out the water. :"Yuck! What in StarClan's name is this?" he exclaimed. His bent his head down towards the water and took notice for it for the first time. What he saw shocked him. :The fish were dead, yet they weren't floating at the top. For some reason, all those dead fish sank to the bottom, deflated looking and glowing too, with some of their skin peeling away as the current moved along in the dirty stream. The sight sent an ominous chill down his spine. :This is bad, what could kill all these fish? Is it an omen from StarClan? Is it a sign that what I'm doing is wrong? Is it-'' :His thought was cut off by his immediate hacking. Suddenly he felt extremely sick, as he was puking up the water and his stomach contents all over. But this was different, his whole insides, his veins, his chest, everything felt like they were on fire. His vision got blurry. :''Oh no...gotta get help... he thought as he ran from the clearing in no particular direction. :"Help! Help! Help..." his raspy voice seemed to get quieter as he yelled; he was simply too weak to keep yelling. Running in no direction across the clearing, he spotted another slightly bigger forest nestled near the base of an incline. He decided to run towards there. :Brindlepaw stumbled; his heartbeat quickened to the point where he thought it would pop out of his chest. He could no longer hear anything at all, and his eyesight was becoming increasingly blurry. So when he bumped into another creature, he didnt notice. :The she-cat looked up at him, looking frightened beyond her wits. She sprang up and sprinted away towards the forest. She was yelling something, but all Brindlepaw could hear was a loud silence in his ears. He could no longer see clearly at all, the forest was merely a dark smudge against a gray and green landscape. Finally, he collapsed. :Why...why... he thought. He blinked his eyes slowly, giving up hope. He threw up again, feeling the increasingly fire-like sensation all over his body. Then, he saw a group of big blurs bounding over to him. Not caring whether or not they were going to attack him or help him, he blinked his eyes slowly closed, with the last thing he saw being the blurred face of what looked like a tabby colored face staring into his diseased face. Chapter 3 :"He drank the water?" whispered a voice. :"How could he do that? Doesnt he know?" meowed another. :"He's foreign, he probably doesn't know any better. Based on his looks, he was probably too desperately thirsty to notice it. First Gale and now this new disease, what next? Poor thing!" the first voice said as it rushed towards Brindlepaw's stirring body. :Brindlepaw was trying to sit up, but felt too weak, too disoriented. His eyelids were heavy, but he forced them open to take in the scene around him. :It looked as if it was a makeshift medicine cats den. Only there was something eerie about it. There was another cat lying down in the corner, a small gray she-cat, who appeared to be asleep, and next to her was a skinny gray and white tabby, who was staring intently at Brindlepaw. He looked away, and looked at the floor towards the center of the den. There was something very strange about what he saw. Brindlepaw squinted, :Is that blood? he wondered suspiciously. Suddenly, he looked up. :The first cat approached him cautiously, staring at him with piercing blue eyes. :"What is your name?" she said slowly. The cat next to her, a gray and white tom that looked like a bigger version of the other cat he saw earlier, padded up to her. :"Erm...my name is...Br-Brindlepaw," Brindlepaw stuttered. Brindlepaw felt very confused; How could he not remember his own name? :"Do you remember what happened to you?" the she-cat asked. :Brindlepaw paused, "Well...I remember being extremely thirsty- I-I've been travelling for days. I found the stream and started to drink. I opened my eyes a-and I noticed the fish...their skin was falling off, and they were upside down, and thats when I noticed the green glow of the water..." :"Do you know what that was?" asked the Tom. :"No," replied Brindlepaw. :The two cats looked at each other, then looked back to Brindlepaw. :"I think you're too young to know about it," meowed the Tom gravely, "Many many generations ago, there was a mass extinction that happened. It started with the ground shake. The shake was violent and terrible, it killed many of the upwalkers, and even us cats," he glanced at the she-cat, who looked down-cast. "I used to belong to some upwalkers, so I know a lot about their communication and what happened. You think this world is only confined to this lake? Think again. Count the number of stars in the sky tonight, and think of them as the lake territory, stretching from the sun-drown-place all the way to the mountains. And that's how many different lake territories there are in the world. You get it? "Anyways, all of the huge world, there were many ground shakes. It killed a lot of upwalkers from the different territories. Everyone here panicked because it hasn't happened yet. But then it did, and that's what made that huge gaping gorge near the forest part of the lake," :Brindlepaw thought of ThunderClan's territory. He heard the elder's tell this story before, but never heard it in such detail and context as this. :"Upwalkers are strange creatures," the Tom continued, "They can't survive like us cats. They need this thing called 'electric tree', don't ask me what that means," the Tom meowed bluntly at Brindlepaw's confused expression. :"That electric tree stuff is powered by many different stations across the whole world, I guess. There's one quiet aways from here, but sitting on the riverbed. Banner's been there", the Tom nodded to a sleeping tom. :"From what Banner heard his upwalkers say, it's very poisonous to nature. Like snake venom is to us cats. After the ground shakes, the electric tree stuff from all over the world infected the air and the rivers and the seas. There weren't any upwalkers left to stop it, except for the one near us. But soon those upwalkers died, we don't know why yet, and the electric tree stuff fell into the river. Which brings us to you," the Tom looked directly at Brindlepaw, the reminiscing gleam in his eye being replaced with a sudden seriousness. :"You drank from the infected water." he stared at Brindlepaw. :"Uhh, yeah...only a sip though." he replied. The Tom looked slightly relieved. :"That's good. We believe one of our own drank from it too, but not just a sip..." the Tom trailed off. Brindlepaw suddenly felt scared. :"...What happened to them?" he asked. :"Well, she's dead." the Tom said rather bluntly. :"Dead? From the water? Oh StarClan..." Brindlepaw muttered. The two cats looked confused at what he said, but he wasn't worried about that right now. :"How did she die?" he asked innocently. Suddenly the she-cat got up and left, looking depressed. The Tom looked extremely sad too, but stayed. :"Excuse her, she's still trying to get over it...it wasn't a pretty death. We don't know if they're connected but there's no other logical explanation. After Gale drank the water, she became very ill, and very very violent," the Tom said pointedly. :"She just woke up one morning, and she just...wasn't the same. Her eyes became red and she was terribly moody, she just wasn't herself anymore. On the final night, I went to look for some herbs, just anything to try to get her to go back to herself. But nothing worked...my brother Ryder tried giving them to her because I couldn't do it. But something happened, it was terrible! I heard a screech and a short fight, and when I ran to this very den where it happened," his voice was an eerie whisper at this point, "I saw Ryder standing over Gale's dead body, everything drenched in blood." the Tom looked down, looking like he was trying to keep it together. Brindlepaw was shocked and frightened. :Is this going to happen to me? he wondered. :"She had the most...evil look on her face. She attacked him, and we're sure it's because of the sickness she had." now he looked at Brindlepaw, slowing his speech ominously, "All because she drank the water." :Brindlepaw gulped, now starting to tremble. :"D-do you think...this will happen to me?" He looked up at the Tom. His gaze softened in pity. :"I don't know. You only had a sip, and you were knocked out for a while. Hopefully you got the sickness out of you already. But in the meantime, we aren't sure. And we need to keep you here. Sage, the cat who walked out of here, will look after you. We never encounter strangers who aren't trying to kill us, so we'd like to know more about you." :"Oh, well okay," Brindlepaw meowed. :"Great. Sorry we had to meet this way, and sorry I went on about the extinction story...it's affected me a lot," the Tom looked slightly embarrassed at admitting this. :He ducked his head on his way out of the den, "I'm Kellen by the way. I'll see you tomorrow." :As he walked out of the den, Brindlepaw noticed how skinny he was. Are they starving? he wondered. But none of the others seemed as skinny. He also walked with a limp, and he seemed to have much harder paws than the other cats. :It was barely sunset, and Brindlepaw was confined to the den. Sage hadn't come back yet, so the most he could do was look up at the sky between the cracks of the den ceiling and wait to count those stars Kellen told him about. :Worries upon worries have been thrusted onto Brindlepaw his whole life. First he had to worry about Hazelstar, then his brother and mother, and now he might die. :I will never get a break will I? he thought to himself as the first tiny star started to shine in the glowing pink-orange sky. Chapter 4